Specialist financial advice

There are many specialist areas of financial planning that an IFA can advise on either directly or by working with other professionals such as accountants and solicitors.

The various specialist areas include:-

Inheritance Tax planning

Inheritance Tax planning to ensure you are minimising the amount of any possible Inheritance Tax that may be liable on your estate. Let’s dispel a myth right here and now. You don’t have to be super rich for your estate to be subject to Inheritance Tax (IHT) after you die. An IFA might, for example, advise you to make gifts now to intended beneficiaries as these will be free of IHT (providing you live for 7 years or more following the gifts). There are several other tax-efficient ways of making annual gifts, both to individuals and organisations such as charities.

You could then leave a further £325,000 free of IHT to your beneficiaries in your will. Gifts between married couples incidentally are not subject to any Inheritance Tax. You might also like to think about setting up a trust. If you put part of your estate into a trust for your grandchildren, it could be decades before your cash is again under the eye of the taxman. Trusts can be complicated and an IFA may work in conjunction with a solicitor.

Another option you might like to consider is an insurance policy to pay the tax bill after you die. An IFA can compare all insurers to help find the right policy for you.

Ethical investment

Ethical investment is often known as Socially Responsible Investment but it can be confusing as there are so many shades of “green” funds available through unit trusts, open ended investment companies and investment trusts. Some funds are more environmentally friendly than others.

Companies also have different approaches to defining ethical. For example, British American Tobacco would not be classed as ethical by organisations such as Cancer Research. However, BAT has gone a long way to improve working conditions, with fairer wages and improving human rights issues in its overseas operations.

If you want to invest ethically, you should speak to an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) about what sort of investment would work for you and best suit your own principles.

Overseas mortgages

Overseas mortgages as a product description is reasonably self-explanatory and you may need to look into this option if you are thinking of purchasing a property abroad, be it as a main residence or as a holiday home. Factors worth considering include exchange rates, regulatory/legal/jurisdictional issues.

Optimum Independent Financial Advisers can advise on all these and other specialist areas of financial planning. Please use our online contact form or other contact details if you would like to discuss any of these areas with an adviser.